Photo by Bob Christy

On May 4, 1970, Alan Canfora watched in amazement as the Ohio National Guard retreated back up Blanket Hill toward the pagoda. He didn't think the guardsmen would turn, aim their rifles and fire 67 live rounds for 13 seconds. He didn't think that the tree he would jump behind to dodge the bullets would save his life. He didn't think that hours later he would be hitching a ride to Robinson Memorial Hospital to be treated for a bullet wound in his right wrist. And he definitely didn't think that the course of his life would he changed forever in the next few minutes. All Canfora thought at that time was that the guardsmen were leaving and the confrontation was over.

"It was a very surreal experience. It seemed like a nightmare," Canfora says. "At the moment I was shot, I had an overwhelming sense of disbelief. I had never been shot before, and I surely didn't expect to be shot at that moment. It took about a second for me to fully comprehend that they were firing live ammunition and that I had been shot. As my blood began to flow, I felt a growing sense of pain. The reality was just horrifying. I knew I had to stay behind that tree to save my life."

When the guards stopped firing, the reality of what had just occurred set in quickly, Canfora says. People were screaming for help, either for their own injuries or for someone near them. Those on the hill and in the parking lot banded together to help the wounded.

A group of people gathered near Canfora to help his roommate, Tom Grace, who had been shot in the foot. Seeing that Grace was being taken care of, Canfora ran to the Prentice parking lot, in a failed attempt to locate his sister.

Then, Canfora stopped a passing car, driven by a graduate student and his wife, to ask for a ride to the hospital.

"On the way to the hospital, we saw many ambulances pass us," Canfora says. "When I finally arrived there, outside the emergency room, I saw an ambulance backed up to the doorway. I saw my friend, Jeff Miller, lying dead in the back of that ambulance with a bullet through his head."

After waiting for hours in the emergency room, Canfora was treated for his wound and released. Outside the emergency room, Canfora encountered another student, Barry Levine. He asked Canfora if he had heard anything about his girlfriend, Allison Krause, who had been shot.

Canfora says he was thrown out of the hospital by a Portage County sheriff when he tried to find out any information on Krause. Canfora was later to discover that she had died.

Canfora's sister and girlfriend arrived at the hospital and took him home. They were forced to travel along back roads, because the City of Kent had been sealed off shortly after the shootings. The news that four people were dead had already reached his apartment before Canfora arrived. He says at that moment his emotions were unstable and intense.

"I was feeling great pain from my arm," Canfora says. "But more than that, we all were feeling absolute anger that people in the U.S. could be killed in broad daylight on a college campus - by their own government."

Twenty-five years later, Canfora still works to keep the memory of May 4 alive. As an eyewitness to the events, he speaks across the nation. He is also the director of the May 4 Center in Kent and a member of the May 4 Task Force, in addition to serving as the chairman for the Barberton Democratic Party and deputy director of its board of elections.

Through these activities and organizations, Canfora says he helps to educate people on the events of May 4, while continuing his personal search for the truth behind many of the unanswered questions that surround that day.

"The pain is gone, but the anger is still there," he says. "I can't turn my back on this obligation I feel to speak for my fellow students who can no longer speak for themselves and their families. I've learned to transform my anger into action to pay a tribute to the four students and to prevent this from happening in the future."

- Shannon Steiner is a junior English major. This is her first contribution to The Burr.